Jens Anso

Few names in the knife world garner as much respect as Jesper Voxnaes and Jens Anso. Together, they’re a veritable dynamic duo of knife design. So, when the folks at Giant Mouse Knives agreed to send over a loaner of the pair’s new ACE Nimbus model, the clouds parted and I beheld the aura of a truly excellent EDC blade.

Mythical and meteorological references aside, this is a surprisingly grounded tool. Based off a venerable midcentury motorcycle, Anso and Vox drew inspiration from the “rugged, utilitarian design objectives of the Nimbus.” The Giant Mouse website hails it as their “take on a great tool knife… the kind of knife you will love to use for years to come.”

General Dimensions and Blade Details

Let’s start with the Nimbus’ centerpiece – Three inches of flat-ground Bohler M390. This beautiful blade is a full inch tall, with a thickness of 0.14 at its well-chamfered peak. The satin finish provides a glow worthy of its namesake’s Merriam-Webster definition, with beautifully etched logos on the clip side. The teardrop opening hole is rounded along its top (where your finger is most likely to make contact), though the lower edge has been left square.

Behind the blade, users will be treated to 4.25-inches of textured G-10, with stainless steel liners and a reversable wire pocket clip. The Nimbus is fairly wide through the hips, exactly twice as tall in the handle (1.1”) as it is across (0.55”). This brings the weight to a not-inconsiderable 4.04-ounces – Hefty, but not bad for a heavy-use tool.

And indeed, this is how Giant Mouse wants us to consider the Nimbus. They advertise it as “the knife you’ll want to keep in your winter coat, backpack, working jeans or toolbox.” In that vein, here’s a comparison with the two other folders I reach for when the going gets tough: The Spyderco Native 5 and Zero Tolerance 0562.

So, how does it perform? Honestly, this one took a while to grow on me. The blade felt undersized at first, struggling to straddle apples and medium sized onions. The turning point came in the form of several large bookshelf boxes from my construction trailer. These paper behemoths fell to pieces in the face of the Nimbus. Its tall edge glided through six-foot swaths of quarter-inch cardboard, almost reminiscent of a razor knife. Consider me sold.

Performance aside, there are additional advantages to a sub-3.5 blade, legality being foremost among them. From city warehouses to country cabins, it’s a knife that can go where the work is.

A few nitpicks: While I love the cutting capability, I actually feel that the blade may be a little under-branded. The ACE and Giant Mouse logos are great, but the show side has been left completely blank. I’d like to see these split, perhaps with one logo on each side, in addition to a mark announcing the M390 steel.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The Nimbus is a nice match for my medium/large hand. The humpback design creates a solid grip, especially when paired with the handle’s overall thickness. The thumb jimping is perfectly placed, just forward of the opening hole. The texturing of the G-10 is sublime, marking a nice balance between smoothness and grip. I’d compare it to the feeling of a Micarta handle from ESEE, making it a bit softer than the G-10 on the ZT 0562 shown above.

The weakest point of this ACE’s ergos lies in its lockbar. The slight scallops cut for thumb traction tend to rest in the joint of my index finger, causing a bit of a sawing effect under heavy grip. It’s not a major issue, and just mentioning it makes it sound like more of an issue than it really is. At no point did I develop a skin irritation because of this bit of texturing. Still, you’ll certainly know it’s there.

Speaking of touchy spots, take a look at the tip in the photo below. More specifically, check out how close it is to the top of the liners.

Yeesh. While it’s not close enough to catch a finger as it slides across the surface, this is my strongest criticism of the knife. A slight alteration in the blade’s angle would have dropped the point safely beneath the surface. As it is, it’s not close enough to be considered a fatal flaw. But you’ll definitely want to mind the gap, as our British friends say.

The wire clip, too, is something of a conundrum. While I’m a huge fan of its overall design and deep-carry function, it does create a minor hotspot in the palm. The pros outweigh the cons here, so I’m happy with it overall.

Let’s take a moment to talk about the internals. The folks at Giant Mouse were kind enough to allow me to take the Nimbus apart, and I’m very glad they did. Take a look at the full breakdown:

Beyond the solidity of its machining, there’s some excellent detail work here. The badging on the liners is very attractive, and obviously meant to be enjoyed by tinkerers such as myself. Then there are the washers, inset with a race track for the bearings. There’s so much to like here, and the disassembly process is relatively straightforward. My lone complaint lies in the free-spinning pivot, which requires a TORX driver on both sides for takedown and dial-in. Otherwise, this knife’s maintenance process was a breeze.

Deployment and Lockup

Giant Mouse said it best themselves: “If you are looking for a trick knife to middle-finger flick and play with during office breaks, we have other options coming in the ACE-line.” This held true throughout my time with the Nimbus.

While the finger hole is certainly capable of producing snappy opens, this isn’t exactly a fidget-friendly tool. For one, the lack of a flipper tab/blade guard makes it possible to flick the edge down onto your thumb during closure. It didn’t happen to me, but careless users may find themselves with a nick or two if they’re not careful. This isn’t something I’d consider as a flaw, especially since Giant Mouse straight up warns you that this is a function-first knife. Still, lockup is solid and satisfying, with the linerlock leaf snapping into place flush with the clip side of the blade tang.

Dialing the action in can take a bit after disassembly, due to the nature of a free-spinning pivot. But once you have the screws in right, you’re left with nothing but smooth solidity.

Giant Mouse ACE Nimbus Review – Final Thoughts

The Nimbus looks, feels, and cuts like a $175 knife – Every inch, every penny. From its excellent construction to the thoughtfulness of its design, this is a rare case where the silver linings outshine whatever troubles make up the cloud. Fans of Anso and Voxnaes will find a lot to like here, and newcomers can use it as a primer for their design philosophy. At the risk of making a pun, the folks at Giant Mouse… Well, they ACE’d it.

I recommend purchasing the Giant Mouse ACE Nimbus at BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website (including Amazon) helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Wandering the hallowed halls of BladeShow in Atlanta can be an overwhelming and even intimidating experience. Knives are (not literally) being thrown at you right and left and it’s difficult to remember what you’ve seen, what you wanted to see, and what you haven’t been able to find yet. Several things stuck out to me during my time in Atlanta and high amongst them was the Giant Mouse ACE Biblio.

For those of you who haven’t heard of the Giant Mouse brand before, it is a collaborative production brand between custom knife makers Jens Ansø and Jesper Voxnaes; with the mission to design the highest quality production knife possible at the most reasonable price point they can. Over the past couple of years, I have had the opportunity to handle several knives from GM, but this was the first model that they produced with an ambidextrous clip which I need as a lefty.

The ACE line from GM is an unlimited production run of knives whereas the pure Giant Mouse lines are limited in production to 400 pieces per model. Currently, GiantMouse is offering two different models under the ACE umbrella, the Biblio (reviewed here) and the newly released Nimbus.

But first, as always, some specs:

Blade: 2.75” (with a cutting edge around 2.5”)

OAL: 6.75”

Thickness: .585”

Blade Thickness: .119”

Steel: M390

Weight: 3.8oz

Lock: Liner Lock

(These are my personal measurements made with my calipers and my faithful ruler, manufacturer’s published numbers may vary.)

Blade

The Biblio’s blade can best be described as a nicely bellied Wharncliffe. The blade has an ascending angle from the handle and terminates at a nice fine point. A nice thing about this shape is that when the edge is flat on a surface, the handle is raised above, allowing you to utilize the full length of the cutting edge without your hand interfering.

GiantMouse opted for a full flat grind as well, making this a pretty great utility slicer equally at home in the kitchen or campsite (not that these two need be separate). It’s ground thin and sharpened well straight from the factory. One last detail, GiantMouse has chosen to crown the spine on the blade, as I’ve stated countless times before this is a GREAT way to class up a knife.

The steel choice of M390 comes as an expected choice—the GiantMouse Knives are made in Maniago Italy by, I assume, Lionsteel who uses M390 in a lot of their models (Editor: I think Viper makes it, but I could always be wrong). I personally love this steel, it’s elementally similar to 20CV but manifests a finer grain that becomes apparent once you start sharpening it. I’ve always big a huge fan of M390 and request it whenever possible in custom orders. It’s been a solid performer, is very stain/wear resistant, and holds an edge well.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

GiantMouse has opted to offer two handle material options for the ACE Biblio, either black G10 (which is accompanied by a satin blade finish) or green micarta (which comes with a stonewashed blade) both of which offer a nice grip and texture. The lines of the handle really lend themselves to locking into the hand, however, I do find that the grip itself is a little on the shorter side, with my pinky falling off the end—this is fixed if I choke up on the knife and utilize the large choil on the blade.

The clip is a simple wire clip that has the option for either “handed” carry. This is a simple method, but effective and has worked fine for me.

In the pocket, the GM is a squish on the thicker side, but being a liner lock you can’t expect much different. The ACE Biblio is far from the worst offender in this category.

Deployment and Lockup

I’ve always thought that having two different deployment methods on a knife generally meant that one took priority over the other. The Biblio, for example, has both an opening hole and a flipper tab but the detent is tuned for the flipper making it relatively difficult to open via the hole. That being said, using the flipper the action is smooth and snappy as expected with bearings.

The Biblio features your typical liner lock situation here, with a small bevel on each side of the lock to allow ambidextrous unlocking. My example engages fully, is solid in all directions, and hasn’t required any adjustment.

Giant Mouse ACE Biblio Review – Final Thoughts

Generally speaking, I think the GiantMouse project as a whole is a great exploration in what happens when two prestigious custom knife makers explore the production side of the knife-world without simply licensing a design or offering a mid-tech. Giant Mouse is a sole entity that operates within the design language of both Anso and Vox.

While I think that limiting the production runs of the of the GiantMouse offerings seems like a play for extrinsic value, it is nice to see that they have adopted an unlimited production run of affordable options.

The Biblio seems like a great choice for anyone that’s a fan of these two specific knife makers, wants a high-value option, or is looking for something that’s a little outside the “canon of normal knife brands.” The ACE Biblio is available (in Black G10) from BladeHQ for $175, and if you think about that… You’re getting an M390 flipper, designed by two well-respected makers, made to the exacting standards of (again what I assume to be) Lionsteel, for less than $200. Pretty hard to beat that these days, in my opinion.

I recommend purchasing the Giant Mouse ACE Biblio at BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website (including Amazon) helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Last Updated: January 3, 2017
I have spoken about the revival of interest in traditional slip joint knives a few times now. Today we have another slip joint review, but rather than featuring a traditional knife today’s blade could not be a more progressive collaboration. Acclaimed Scandinavian custom knife makers Jens Anso and Jesper Voxnaes have joined forces with Spyderco to bring us the Pingo, a completely modern slip joint folder.

The idea with the Pingo was to make a folding knife that is legal to carry in Denmark, which doesn’t allow for locking folders or folders you can open with one hand. Both Jesper and Jens are from Denmark. Although that hasn’t stopped them from making all manner of bad ass folding knives, they apparently wanted to provide something even their countrymen could enjoy.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Pingo has an overall length of 5.80″, a 2.35″ blade, and weighs 1.9 ounces. This is a lightweight and slim every day carry (EDC) knife that disappears into the pocket. I can’t help but compare this to the Dragonfly 2, a knife I refer to as the Pingo’s distant cousin. It is also small, features a linerless FRN handle, and has a wire pocket clip. The Pingo is a great size for daily carry and should be legal to use pretty much anywhere knives are allowed.

The sheepsfoot blade of the Pingo is funky and functional. The high flat grind makes it a capable slicer, while the absence of a serious tip make the Pingo great for delicate tasks. Case in point, I used the Pingo to cut away a bandage from my dog’s foot the other week. It worked great – both animal and handler walked away without any problems. Denmark’s law for folders restricts blade lengths to 2.756″. The Pingo easily meets the standard with its 2.35″ blade. While 2.35″ isn’t a ton of blade to work with, I got a lot done with the knife. It easily broke down boxes, opened mail, and performed mild food prep. The knife is also fine for harder chores like cutting rope and whittling wood. The absence of a serious tip doesn’t make this ideal for stabbing things or cutting out coupons, but for most tasks the Pingo was fine.

The Pingo is made in Maniago Italy and features a blade of Böhler-Uddeholm’s N690 stainless steel. N690 is great stuff and I would compare it to something like 154CM or CTS-XHP in that it holds a nice edge but it is still easy to sharpen. It gets screaming sharp with very little effort. It is also very resistant to rust and corrosion. I have really come to enjoy N690 and was pleased to see it on the Pingo.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The Pingo has a simple FRN handle with a stainless steel backspacer / spring. The FRN has a very fine waffle iron texture to it. It provides good grip but I find that it holds dirt and the little pores get clogged. Not a problem really until you decide to photograph the knife for the world to see. I’m not a huge fan of the oversize Spyderco bug logo in the center of the handle. I have never been a fan of over the top branding, and would have preferred something a little more restrained. With all of that said, the overall handle construction is great. The button head hardware is nice and simple, and each edge of the handle has been rounded for comfort. The absence of any kind of liners make the knife extremely lightweight. While I wouldn’t pry with this knife, I am not concerned about the strength of the handle under normal use.

The overall shape of the handle is kind of elf-like, and the whole knife has a sort of otherworldly vibe to it. I will say that it feels great in hand. The simple elongated handle has plenty of room for all 4 fingers. A small run of jimping on the choil area of the blade holds your index finger in place. The absence of jimping on the spine makes the knife comfortable to use. This is a great little knife for lighter tasks.

Spyderco included the wire clip on the Pingo, which happens to also be on the Sage 1 and Dragonfly 2, a couple of my favorite Spydies. So I might be a bit biased when I say that I really like the clip on the Pingo. It’s simple, discrete, and highly functional.

In pocket the Pingo carries beautifully. It’s a wider knife, but slim and lightweight. Perfect for urban daily carry.

Deployment and Lockup

The whole point of the Spyderco Pingo is that you are not supposed to be able to open the knife with one hand. The knife is hard to open one handed, but with some finger gymnastics I can still get it done. The back spring or (“pull”) isn’t super strong, but feels appropriate and I’m not afraid of the blade falling out of the handle or anything like that. The pivot is smooth, and the action is crisp as the blade slides into its half stop, and then opens completely with a satisfying snap. All said this is a well implemented slip joint. Spyderco did include their trademarked round hole here, and when the knife is closed the hole sort of winks out at you over the FRN scales.

Here is the Pingo next to my Dragonfly 2:

Of course being a slip joint there is no lock on the knife. Personally this doesn’t turn me off and I think it is fine for an EDC knife (at least for my purposes). People have been using slip joints as work knives for hundreds of years. You just need to be careful with it and treat the tool with respect.

There is no blade play to speak of, and blade centering is perfect.

Spyderco Pingo Review – Final Thoughts

The Pingo strikes me as an excellent convergence of traditional sensibility, forward design, and modern materials. It appears simple enough, but this is a deceptively refined knife from the benches of two of the hottest custom makers on the market. The choice of materials is great and the fit and finish is good (not amazing, there are some tooling marks on the inside of the spring and the spring bows out ever so slightly from the handle at one point). Although it’s not a locking folder, it’s still a practical choice for EDC, even if you can carry a locking folder in your jurisdiction.

The Pingo is also priced attractively at under $50. I have been critical of Spyderco for mostly introducing expensive knives these days, so I have to give credit where it’s due. The Pingo is accessible, and it doesn’t feel cheap either.

If you are torn between this and the Dragonfly 2 (and your local laws allow you to carry both) I would probably recommend the Dragonfly because you can open it with one hand and it locks. But the Pingo is still a fun and functional knife and worth your consideration. Ultimately, you can’t go wrong either way. Recommended.

I recommend purchasing the Pingo at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that purchasing anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.